9 Individuals, Companies And Organizations That Have Donated Money To Fight LGBT Rights

Unless you've been living in an end-of-days bunker waiting for the zombie apocalypse, you probably know about the Chick-fil-A controversy that ignited earlier this summer when the fast food chain's COO and President, Dan Cathy, confirmed his support for "traditional" marriage.

But what not everyone realized is that not only is Cathy against gay marriage, but the company itself, or at least its charitable arm, The WinShape Foundation, has donated millions of dollars to anti-LGBT groups, many of which are fighting marriage equality as well as supporting "ex-gay" reparative therapy and other heinous anti-LGBT actions and policies.

And Chick-fil-A isn't alone.

In the slideshow below learn about nine other individuals, companies, organizations and religious groups that have donated huge sums of money to fight LGBT equality.

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Individuals, Organizations And Companies Who Have Donated Money To Fight LGBT Rights

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In 2009 The Douglas and Maria DeVos Foundation, which was founded and is funded by the President of Amway, Douglas DeVos, donated $500,000 to the National Organization for Marriage.
The donation led to Fred Karger, president of the LGBT advocacy group, Rights Equal Rights foundation, calling for a boycott of Amway and its affiliates, including the Orlando Magic basketball team, which is owned by DeVos's father and Amway co-founder Richard DeVos.

According to RightsEqualRights.com, The Knights of Columbus donated $1,425,000 in 2008 to support Proposition 8.
Founded in 1882, The Knights was "formed to render financial aid to members and their families... social and intellectual fellowship is promoted among members and their families through educational, charitable, religious, social welfare, war relief and public relief works."
With more than 1.8 million members throughout the world, RightsEqualRights.com notes that the organization has spent millions of dollars "...to fund constitutional amendments to ban same-sex marriage across the United States."

Jim Walton is the youngest son of Sam Walton and an heir to the WalMart fortune. He also serves as CEO of Arvest Bank, which operates in Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas and Kansas.
In 2008 Jim Walton donated $75,000 to Family Council Action Committee's campaign to keep gay couples from adopting in Arkansas.

It should come as no surprise that one of the country's most vocal anti-gay marriage organizations, The National Organization for Marriage, donated $1,041,134.80 to support Proposition 8.
RightsEqualRights.com notes:
"Due to its sizeable early financial support of ProtectMarriage.com, NOM is chiefly responsible for the qualification of Proposition 8. Their funds made it possible to hire the signature gathering firm of Bader and Associates. Bader then was able to hire hundreds of professional petition circulators to collect the necessary signatures to qualify Proposition 8 for the November ballot. The Protect Marriage Campaign spent $1,227,263 with the Bader organization alone between January and June of 2008."

According to an interview with the New York Times, a strategist for Protect Marriage, an anti-gay organization working to keep same-sex marriage illegal, claimed that nearly one-half of the $40 million raised to support Proposition 8 was donated by Mormons.
Another Protect Marriage member "estimated that Mormons made up 80 percent to 90 percent of the early volunteers who walked door-to-door [to gain Prop 8 support] in election precincts."

The famously pro-life and anti-gay rights Domino's Pizza founder financed a ballot initiative in 2001 aimed at removing sexual orientation from a Michigan city's nondiscrimination ordinance.
Still, the company has managed to stay out of the public fray. "We're not a religious company. We're not a political company. We're a pizza company," a Domino's spokesman told USA Today earlier this month.

Target faced a backlash when it was revealed the company had made a controversial political donation of $150,000 to MN Forward, a group supporting Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, a vocal gay marriage opponent. Quickly, anti-Target groups were created on Facebook, and Lady Gaga dropped an exclusive album deal with the retailer in a show of support.
Even so, Target officials staunchly defended their company. As NewsOK reports, the company has continued to be a major sponsor for the Pride festivities in Minneapolis, and also scores high on the Human Rights Campaign's corporate equality index, which rates businesses on workplace policies for LGBT employees.
"Target is not anti-gay," Michael Francis, Target's executive vice president and chief marketing officer, told The Los Angeles Times. "It's important to set the record straight and provide some context."

A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ashton, who made his fortune as one of the founders of the WordPerfect Corporation, donated $1,000,000 to support Proposition 8.